Last Movies You Have Rented

Loved Downton Abbey. They're already filming the second season, which will air in Britain next fall, so hopefully here by winter, as well as a two-hour Christmas special episode.

I was surprised how much I liked The Social Network. Very "classic" Aaron Sorkin rapid-fire dialogue. It was uncanny how much the actors actually look like their real-life counterparts.

I also watched The Town recently and thought it was excellent. It started at a slow pace and then picked up into what I thought was a really fun chase/thriller movie. I'm becoming a big fan of Jeremy Renner.

And The King's Speech? Sighhhh. Awesomely awesome. Put it on your Netflix list for the first day it's released!

We just saw The Town and I really liked it. Interesting storyline, though I was a little bummed they didn't show the beautiful parts of Charlestown. But any movie that has Ben Affleck AND Fenway Park is an A+ in my book. ;)

Also - for those who've seen it and who have seen Good Will Hunting - did you think the cafe that Ben and the girl were sitting at when his buddy crashes their date was the same cafe that Minnie Driver and Matt Damon sat at in GWH (the cafe near her school)???

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Originally Posted by Arielflies

I've also watched The Social Network recently and found it another interesting piece of the internet puzzle. I can't remember the name of it now, but there is a documentary (or quasi-documentary) about the rivalry between Apple and Microsoft - as well as movies. I like The Social Network because it relates to those kinds of stories of the creative mind.

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Are you thinking of Pirates of Silicon Valley? I've heard good things about it, but haven't gotten around to watching it myself.

I watched The Other Guys and Red today and loved both of them, especially Red.

It's rare that I actually laugh out loud while watching anything by myself and there were several scenes in The Other Guys that had me howling. I LOVE Will Ferrell and he didn't disappoint in this one. I read a few reviews that compared it to Beverly Hills Cop and I think that's accurate. They're both funny movies with lots of straight up action only this movie had a little goofiness too, which I liked.

What can I say about Red? There are probably dozens of action movies released every year and I haven't seen one in long time that was as well done as this one. Great action, funny, nice twists and all with an "older" cast. It just goes to show that, just because you have a young, hot cast, it doesn't mean the movie will be good. I've always liked Bruce Willis and he totally had me in this one. He's gotten better with age. Helen Mirren was fabulous, as was Mary-Louise Parker. Helen Mirren shooting big guns in a white evening gown was all kinds of awesome! John Malkovich has always given me the willies, but he was terrific, as was Morgan Freeman. Karl Urban = :lovestruc LOVE him.

I was going to send both movies back to Netflix tomorrow, but I think I'm going to keep them for a few more days so I can watch them again!

Solitary Man - Michael Douglas is very good in roles like this that are another variation on his Gordon Gekko character.

The Hangover - It was OK. I expected it to be a lot funnier than it was, based on all the hype surrounding it. I honestly could have done without ever seeing Zack Galiafanakis' body and his rather obnoxiously grating persona. At least, by the end of the movie, I did like him a bit better. Still, I would have suffered gladly through some more of Bradley Cooper's body, rather than Zack's ;)

I've been reading the James Patterson book series featuring Alex Cross as a Washington police detective / psychologist. I found out that the first two books have been made into movies - "Kiss the Girls" and "Along Came a Spider."

I finished watching "Kiss the Girls" this morning. It's probably the single worst movie adaptation of a book that I've ever seen. The casting was terrible. Alex in the books was in his 30s and described as looking like a "young Muhammed Ali" . . . Alex in the movie was played by Morgan Freeman. They had to age his daughter from the book age of 5 to about 20 in the movie. :down Denzel Washington or Will Smith would have been a MUCH better choice. Ashley Judd was a good choice to play Kate, but her movie character never really developed the depth of the book character.

Tonight . . . "Along Came a Spider." I'm not optimistic, but I'll give it a shot.

They're doing at least one more Alex Cross movie with Tyler Perry as Alex. Not sure how I feel about that - I would have preferred Idris Elba (:lovestruc) - but he's closer to Patterson's description of the character.

I'm still annoyed that they cast Denzel Washington as Lincoln Rhyme in The Bone Collector, so there you go. :shrug

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Originally Posted by Critical

They're doing at least one more Alex Cross movie with Tyler Perry as Alex. Not sure how I feel about that - I would have preferred Idris Elba (:lovestruc) - but he's closer to Patterson's description of the character.

I'm still annoyed that they cast Denzel Washington as Lincoln Rhyme in The Bone Collector, so there you go. :shrug

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I'd heard of Tyler Perry but have never seen any of his movies. Looking at his picture, he appears a better physical match (age), but most of the comments I've read have indicated a preference for Idris Elba - although most people (including yours truly) would prefer Denzel or Will Smith.

I just hope that the adaptation for I, Alex Cross is better than the two they've made so far. So much potential, such a waste of money, IMHO.

I got to "Release The Kraken!" last evening. I enjoyed this cheesy film, Battle of the Titans, with new FX available. It did make me wonder (and maybe research) how they wove the old myths together. One idea they brought over from the PBS Merlin mini-series is the idea that the Gods lost their power when people stopped believing in them.

Flashback! I Netflixed an oldie, but very much a goodie. The Penny Marshall directed film, Jumpin' Jack Flashwith Whoopie Goldberg, Annie Potts and Carol Kane. Oh, and Jim Belushi has a minor role as a bad guy. Jeroen Crabbe is in the credits, but I can't picture him in the film. I'm still smiling. Bank computers dated 1986 brought back memories among other things. Remember phone booths? Put to hilarious use. Anyway, I enjoyed this trip to the past. Now if I could just remember the Walther Matthau film name where he is a spy who wants to retire.